The Haunting Portraits of Heo YongSung

Painter Heo YongSung renders delicate portraits of disaffected youths using traditional Korean ink wash on paper. Heo’s pallid subjects are marked by their strange eyes. At times, they appear red, as though the character has been crying, and at times they are pale and glowing to an almost supernatural degree. These characters’ eyes add a sense of mystery to the work that takes it beyond straight-forward portraiture. Take a look at Heo YongSung’s work below.